Not My Type
by shadowhunterrs
Summary: Isabelle is a sixth-year Gryffindor student from a highly respected and exclusive pure-blood family, who dates Slytherin bad boys and practices withering looks in the mirror. Who would've anticipated she could fall for a glasses-wearing, geeky Hufflepuff... (currently T but will probably change to M for later chapters ;))
1. Chapter 1

Isabelle buried her face into her folded arms on top of her desk, letting her soft black hair fall like a cloak around her. She was bored out of her mind, and she knew Professor Binns wouldn't notice- hell, he was dead. History of Magic was by far the most boring class. She'd stopped listening about ten minutes into the lesson, after Binns had started going on about some goblin war hundreds of years ago, and her mind had begun to wander. In the direction of a certain dark-haired, bespectacled Hufflepuff...

She'd known Simon since they were fifth-years- well, since Clarissa and Jace had started going out. Clarissa and Simon had been best friends since they were tiny, and had come over from America together to attend Hogwarts, making them sort of outsiders from the beginning. Being placed in different Houses had come as a blow to them, and they'd basically spent every moment they could together outside of class- pretty much excluded themselves from making friends with the rest of the students. Isabelle hadn't even known or cared that Simon existed until Jace, her adoptive brother, had fallen for his best friend and after a year or so, finally persuaded her to go out with him. After that, she and her twin brother Alec had been forced to hang around with both Clarissa and Simon, seeing as they came as a package deal and wherever Jace went, so did they.

At first she hadn't really paid him much attention. It had been around the time that they had all been revising madly for their O.W.L's , and she and Alec had spent too much time in the library with their heads bent over textbooks to worry about anything else. But it was over that summer after fifth year that things began to change. Isabelle and Alec's parents had dropped the bomb on them that they were divorcing. Izzy had known about their father's affair long before any of the others did- that was another reason she'd been so stressed during exam season. Knowing how difficult and awkward things were at the Lightwood house that summer, Clarissa had offered to have Jace, Alec and Isabelle to stay at her mother's farmhouse in upstate New York. As none of them had ever been to America before, and they couldn't think of a better excuse to get away from the tension at home, they jumped at the chance.

It was that summer, during long, hot afternoons lounging in the gardens of the farmhouse, that Isabelle had finally taken notice of the formerly quiet, geeky Simon. Something about being back in his home country brought out a different quality in him. He was just more- he made her laugh, he was interesting and interested in her. Alec was barely around, continually slipping off on solo daytrips into the city for some mysterious reason, Jace and Clarissa were barely around for another reason... and despite the gorgeous surroundings and weather, Isabelle had realised she felt lonely and down. Many afternoons after that she had found herself in Simon's company- sipping cold drinks out on the terrace, taking walks into the nearby woods, and one memorable day, plotting a water-gun attack on the others. She began to feel more at home every day, and when the summer ended and it was time to go back to Hogwarts, she actually felt sad at leaving the place.

So when they'd returned as sixth-years, things had shifted slightly between them, and in a way that was both confusing and welcome to Isabelle. She'd been pleasantly surprised to find that the sixth-year Gryffindors had several classes with the Hufflepuffs, and several times, glancing across during a particularly dull Defence Against the Dark Arts lecture, she'd felt a jolt ripple in her stomach as her eyes met Simon's across the room. Each time she smiled, blushed, embarrassed, and returned her eyes to the front of the class. She'd never imagined he could have that effect on her- any effect, come to think of it. He definitely wasn't her type. She'd dated guys before, had a bit of a reputation for it, but always went for the bad ones- Slytherins, often, with a taste for her pale skin and dark hair, her provocative curves, who had always treated her like a piece of dirt on the hem of their robes. But maybe that was the thing about Simon. He actually seemed to enjoy her for who she was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author note:**

**Thanks so much for reading my first chapter. This one is a lot longer, and I got quite deep into come character stuff, but the next chapter will hopefully be more action-packed. Please review and I hope you like it :)**

A couple of days later, Izzy woke in the Gryffindor dormitory with that hazy feeling you get on awakening from a deep, dream-filled sleep. She had a sneaking sensation she'd been dreaming about someone... images flickered through her mind. Hands, dancing across her waist and then finding their place around the small of her back, pulling her forwards... everything was dark and muffled. She reached behind her head, grasping her pillow, before sliding up and propping herself against it. She remembered those hands again, this time drawing her hair back from her face. And then... oh. She'd been dreaming about kissing someone, that she now knew with a strange clarity, as if she had been searching for something in a sea of fog and suddenly found it within her grasp. But as hard as she strained her sleepy mind, she couldn't picture the face of the guy in her dream.

She slid unwillingly out of bed, tiptoeing quietly around as the other girls in the dormitory were still asleep. She grabbed her clothes and wash bag and headed down through the empty common room, exiting by the portrait hole, and slipped down the corridor to the bathrooms. She got back into the dormitory just as the other girls were waking up, and as usual they all blinked at her sleepily and a tall brunette girl named Teresa groaned, 'How do you do that, Isabelle?' Someone else chimed in- 'Yeah, you're always up and looking gorgeous before any of us have even woken up!' Isabelle laughed softly, brushing aside their compliments as she'd learned to do. Once, she probably would've blushed and defensively protested, unused to other girls and not sure how to act around them. She'd changed for the better, slightly, since coming to Hogwarts.

Having spent her childhood with only Jace, Alec and their younger brother Max for company, Izzy had had no idea how to befriend another girl. It had made for a few lonely years of nights spent lying silent in the dormitory while other girls whispered secrets around her. Clarissa was the first girl she'd really ever started to call a friend, and she had to be thankful for Jace for that. Since then, she'd felt much more comfortable with the girls in her dorm, even joining in with their conversations from time to time. In the time Isabelle had spent around Clary, she'd realised there was another side to herself than the one the boys saw. Growing up with Alec and Jace, constantly measuring herself against them, proving she was just as worthy of going to Hogwarts as they were, just as good at catching a Quaffle, she'd never really connected with that part of herself which was vulnerable, sensitive, which didn't always know what to do. That part of her had been forced down until it barely existed anymore.

She headed down the spiral stairs into the common room now, behind a group of third-years who were giggling about some boy they thought was handsome. Isabelle smiled, running her hand down the rail which protruded from the stone wall as she swept down the staircase. Stepping out into the warm, firelit common room, she spotted her brothers leaning languid in a couple of armchairs by one of the fireplaces. Clarissa was sitting on the arm of Jace's chair, and his arm lay draped around her waist. They were talking animatedly, whilst Alec looked bored. Isabelle giggled and walked up to the group, drawing up behind Alec and flicking him playfully on the head. He turned, frowning. 'Ow, Iz!' The other two looked up and smiled, saying good morning. Alec punched her arm in return, grinning, and she pulled him up out of his chair, saying 'It's my job to annoy you, Alexander. That's what sisters are for, right?' His lip curled. 'Let's just go to breakfast,' he sighed in pretend exasperation.

Her brother had a tendency towards the theatrical, especially in the morning. Alec glanced backwards to Jace and Clarissa who were still on the armchair. 'Coming, you guys?' Isabelle watched him. He seemed so happy, not like the brother she'd known for the most part of her life. It had been a few years now since Alec had come out to Jace and their parents, and she, knowing him better than anyone, knew it was the hardest thing he had ever done. For some time before then he'd been withdrawn, anxious and stressed, and only Isabelle had known why. Watching him go through it had been a strain on her and on their relationship, but now they were closer than ever and Alec was happier than she'd ever seen him. The others stood up, finally, and Izzy led the way towards the portrait hole, the dream still floating elusively in the back of her mind.

Ten minutes later they were all seated at the long dining tables in the Great Hall, amongst the loud rumble of morning chat and gossip coming from all the students surrounding them. Jace and Alec had their faces buried in their plates of sausages and toast, while Isabelle and Clary attempted frantically to finish the Charms homework they'd both completely forgotten about before their lesson with Professor Flitwick, the first of the day. She noticed out of the corner of her eye somebody heading toward them in the aisle between their table and the Hufflepuffs'. She paid it no attention until she heard someone saying, 'Hey, Fray!' She looked up sharply.

Simon was standing there behind Clary, his tousled, sleep-mussed dark hair falling softly across his forehead, his hands on her shoulders. Isabelle felt a jolt of adrenaline shoot through her stomach. As their eyes met she could see confusion flicker across his face. She had to be as red in the face as she'd feared. 'Hi, Izzy...', he said slowly, a small smile playing across his mouth. She mentally slapped herself. 'Hey,' she said brightly, trying to push aside her embarrassment. Lowering her head to scribble the last few sentences on her Charms essay, she heard Simon chatting to Clary and Jace. How could she not have realised?

The second she'd looked up and seen him, the image had suddenly jumped back into her head. It had been him, in her dream the night before, kissing her, holding her... She raised her head now, wanting to see him again, but he'd gone, and the only thing she saw was Clary staring at her, an amused glint in her eye and the space behind her occupied by no one. 'What?' Izzy snapped. Standing up abruptly, she gestured to her friend to get up. 'We're late for Charms.' She grabbed her quill, ink bottle and paper from the table, stuffing them into her bag, and stalked away, not knowing that Clary stood behind her wondering if what she had just seen was what she thought it was.


End file.
